The Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association’s members are the driver behind all EEMUA’s resources
The Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association’s members are the driver behind all EEMUA’s resources. As such, industry requirements for ‘how to’, competence-based mechanical integrity training for engineers working at the practitioner level prompted EEMUA to develop the MIPC course
Industry demanded practitioner-level engineers are equipped with up-to-date, practical know how for safely managing industrial scale primary containment of hazardous substances, including in pressure systems. For this, industry specified engineers must be accomplished in handling: the Legislative Environment; Written Scheme of Examination (WSE); Equipment Design Elements; Operational Considerations; Risk and As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP); Asset Condition; User Responsibilities and Competencies; Inspection Process; Inspection and Test Techniques; Inspection Roles; Responses to Findings and Reporting; Postponement; Record Keeping; WSE Review, Audit; Feedback; Industry Good Practice; and more.
BLENDED LEARNING APPROACH
As well as being wide ranging, a course at the practitioner level had to provide appropriate depth for engineers who make major decisions at this high grade. At the same time, engineers at this level are valuable resources who simply cannot be spared from their sites for long periods of training and may even be on a rota for weeks at remote sites. EEMUA has immense experience delivering classroom training, e-learning and live online courses, but singly these methods could not meet the requirements. So, EEMUA devised a new blended learning training course. Investing in a proven, enterprise-class online platform, the course methods mean that practitioner-level engineers can be where they are needed on site and able to learn through live classes, one-to-ones with Tutors, and e-learning. So that the course work can be accommodated within each learner’s work duties, MIPC learning builds in flexible blocks adding up to about four hours work per week.
ADAPTING TO TRAINING NEEDS
Another demand from industry was for training adapted to the needs of each learner, their company, and the sites they work on. EEMUA’s subject expert tutors integrate their own decades of experience with the good practice guidance in EEMUA’s publications and exacting curriculum of the MIPC course, to produce workbooks tailored to each learner’s engineering needs. A major bonus of these workbooks is that they help tune the ‘how to’ guidance to each individual learner’s sites and company. Leveraging a short induction before the course, the tutors structure learning in the workbooks so that the practitioner can apply them on site from day one. The process is repeated, adding and directly applying new learning to situations on-site throughout the course.
Mentors have proven a significant part of learners’ MIPC experience. Enhancing the application of learning on the MIPC course, mentors help learners focus on the company and their site/s through coaching and encouragement. They play a key part in the MIPC course that is designed to encourage each learner’s continuous improvement and attention to key changes in technologies, expectations and work practices – keeping engineers in-step with the latest industrial engineering know-how.
PROOF OF EXPERTISE
Industry also requires proof of each practitioner-level engineer’s know-how. Hence, the workbook, together with an exacting exam, test each learner to appropriately high standards. Successfully passing the course and exam earns certification for five years (with a pathway for re-certification at 10 years) and qualifies for 110 hours of CPD/PDH.
Now running twice each year, EEMUA’s Mechanical Integrity Practitioner Certificate course has been established for five years – the next MIPC course starts in October 2025 and another will begin in March 2026. Courses are kept fresh by creating workbooks tailored to each new learner, and up-to-date using EEMUA’s ‘by industry, for industry’ approach of capturing and distilling the input of its members in industries worldwide to verify proven, good practice – for instance keeping up with the latest developments such as drone and robotic inspection.
In its first five years, the MIPC course has been recognised by the Society of Operations Engineers and shortlisted by memcom for the ‘Best E-learning/Online Education’ initiative. Now, EEMUA is welcoming learners for its sixth year.
For more information visit www.eemua.org
